Ottis Gibson has urged patience with regards to England’s new fearless attacking brand of playing against the red ball filtering its way down to county cricket.
Yorkshire coach Gibson, like the vast majority of cricket lovers, was in awe at the freewheeling way Harry Brook and Joe Root helped England win the opening Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi on Monday.
Scoring at more than six runs per over on a flat surface gave England the chance to go 1-0 up, with the series continuing in Multan tomorrow.
It is clear that the England hierarchy will now want to see a similar approach at county level as captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum bid to become world Test champions over the next few years.
Gibson admits there is a definite will to follow suit at domestic level, though believes it is easier said than done – certainly in the short term.
“It was an unbelievable performance,” he said of the 74-run win, in which Brook scored 153 and 87.
“To say you’re going to do something and then to do it to the extent they did was amazing, to be honest.
“I’ve been to Pakistan a few times, and the pitches are flat.
“If you even look back to some of the Championship games we played on flat pitches last season and trudged along at two runs an over. The game at Essex was one example.
“To think that England scored at more than six an over on a flat pitch and were able to force a win in a game with over 1,750 runs is fantastic.
“But I think it will take time for that to filter down into county cricket, simply because it’s a change of attitude and culture in a way.
“It’s a lot easier for England to do it with the players they are able to choose.
“For us, at county level, we want to play like that. Of course we do. But I think it will be situational rather than going out every day and doing it.
“You listen to Jimmy Anderson who has played over 170 games, Root who has played over 100 Tests, and they are talking about how much fun they are having.
“We want county players to have that same sort of attitude.
“What Brendon has done so well is take the result out of the game and really focus on the way he wants to play.
“If we can find that balance in county cricket, it will be a good thing for everybody.”
Back in July, at the end of the drawn Championship game against Somerset at Taunton, Gibson spoke about how his side would have attempted to chase an imposing final day target had rain not intervened.
Somerset went into the final day on 225-6 in their second innings, leading by 373. But no play was possible.
“England are setting the standard,” Gibson continued. “At our level, there will be a time and place like there would have been for us in that game.
“I said that we would have had a go at that chase at Taunton, and that was because I felt it was the right thing to do for us, given where we were in the league table at the time.
“Also, personnel wise, Brooky was playing in that game and Tom Kohler-Cadmore had just got a hundred in the first innings.
“I certainly wasn’t surprised to see what Brooky did in Pakistan.
“He’s been unbelievable for us and scored his 950 runs last season at close to a run-a-ball.”
However they do it, by hook or by crook, Gibson and his players are going to have to find ways to secure more wins next season given they are chasing promotion from Division Two.
“We want to get ourselves back in Division One as quickly possible, and that’s certainly the way we’ve been talking as a squad,” added Gibson.
“But we also have to respect that there are some good teams in Division Two. It won’t be straightforwards.”
